L1-1. Skull’s Throat 'Red-Tiled Approach'
Stone swallows you. A straight corridor, twelve feet wide and fifteen high, runs down into the hill. The walls are true and square—almost dwarven, yet… off, as if copied from memory. Red tiles pave the floor. Ahead, a ruined portcullis of brass and iron lies mangled across the passage, torn from its housing and left in a twisted heap. Faint, time-gnawed carvings mark the lintel: an hourglass within a star and a stylized bear half-lost under grime.
From a jagged opening on the right—just before the wreck—you hear guttural voices: threats, complaints, tankards scraping, a slap, a grunt, laughter that dies fast.
From a jagged opening on the right—just before the wreck—you hear guttural voices: threats, complaints, tankards scraping, a slap, a grunt, laughter that dies fast.
Features & Clues
- False-Dwarven Masonry. A dwarf or any PC with stonework training notes the work is imitative, not master-made: tool marks too regular, grout lines odd (INT (Investigation) or WIS (Perception) DC 12; dwarves have advantage).
- Red Tiles. Fired clay with iron-oxide glaze. Several are loose; stepping on them gives a sharp clack (DEX (Stealth) DC 13 to avoid; first failure imposes disadvantage on the party’s next Stealth group check as sound carries).
- Ruined Portcullis. Twisted bars (difficult terrain for 10 ft). Clearing a crawl-through gap safely takes 5 minutes or STR (Athletics) DC 15 to drag a section aside (1 minute; on a failed check by 5+, a bar shifts noisily). The wall grooves and ceiling slot reveal the gate once dropped from above.
- Right-Hand Opening. A smashed section of wall (Room 2A, the guard-den) with a plank set as a makeshift door. Light and voices leak through.
- Tracks. Many orc boot-marks; a heavy drag toward the depths. A cracked tile hides a Suel electrum coin (worth 2 gp) stained red.
Light/Sound. Smoky torchlight from 2A throws bars of light across the floor. In this throat, shouting or combat can be heard in Rooms 2A and 4 without a check; careful movement requires group Stealth vs. DC 12 to pass unheard.
Suel provenance (what proves it)
These features are subtle, battered, and Suel Pantheon through and through:
- Lintel glyphs:
- Hourglass within an eight-point (the mark of Lendor, Father of Time).
- A bear-form rendered in rigid Suel angles (Llerg, the wild strength they once venerated)—appropriate for a site guided by Llerg’s Fang.
- A thin, serpentine spiral scratched across older work (iconoclasts tried to chisel it out): sages may link this to Tharizdun, the old Suel terror in their cosmogony.
- Frieze shards (knee-height along the walls): alternating sea-scrolls and feather-vanes—echoes of Osprem/Xerbo (sea & commerce) and Phaulkon (sky/flight).
- Tile pattern: every sixth red tile bears a hairline rune—a mute ward in Wee Jas’ script (law and magic), long since discharged.
- Metal choice: the portcullis’ brass and iron collaring is typical of late-Imperial Suel temple architecture (order over raw stone).
Skill checks (give the table real payoff)
- Religion or History DC 11: Recognize the hourglass-star as Lendor; conclude “Suel make.”
- Religion DC 13: Identify the bear-form as Llerg; omen matches the “Fang” way-finding. Gain advantage on the next check to follow any Suel way-marker this session.
- Arcana DC 12: Read the Wee Jas tile-wards (long inert infer this corridor once enforced silence/order—useful foreshadowing.
- Religion DC 15: Notice the erased serpent spiral and recall Suel myths of Tharizdun as primordial, forbidden chaos; players who voice a loud, orderly chant here gain +1 to group Stealth for 10 minutes (echo-discipline).
- Stonecunning/Tools (Masonry) DC 12: “Not dwarven—Suel trying to be dwarven.” The cuts are too regular; grout lines are wrong.
Signs of Howling Moon Clan occupation
- Boot-grime smears the Suel tiles; empty rot-spirit bottles kicked under the bars.
- Brass shavings collected in a greasy rag (makeshift trade baubles).
- Crude gobs of pitch smeared over some goddess faces (defacement of Lydia/Wee Jas motifs).
If Entrance Guards Fled Here
If outside sentries escaped the hilltop fight and retreated to 2A before the PCs arrive:
- Immediate: 2A tips a table into the breach, litters broken tile shards (improvised caltrops; first enemy to rush through makes DEX save DC 12 or takes 1 piercing and speed –10 ft for 1 minute). One orc sprints to Room 4 to rouse the ogre.
- Numbers: Add the survivors to 2A’s roster; they are on edge (advantage on first Perception).
- Tactics: The orcs hold the smashed opening and try to shove intruders onto the twisted bars (difficult terrain). If pressed, they fall back in pairs, drawing the PCs toward Room 4 for the ogre’s counter-charge.
Tactics if Combat Starts Here
- Orcs in 2A probe first; if they see armor/steel, they call for the ogre.
- The ogre prefers to smash at the portcullis choke, letting orcs Ready attacks to strike through gaps.
- Clever PCs can bait the ogre to step on loose tiles (DM: give it DEX Save DC 10 or lose 10 ft of movement that turn as a bar rolls underfoot).
Treasure & lore bits
- Suel electrum coin wedged in a grout gap (2 gp).
- Wee Jas tile shard (arcane focus, 10 gp to a scholar).
- Ledger scrap (Howling Moon scrawl) confirming “Temple of the Old Suel—good stone for spikes,” cementing the site’s identity in-world.
This ties the hallway’s look, sound, and iconography directly to the Suel pantheon—Lendor on the lintel, Llerg as the omen’s patron, the Wee Jas order-wards underfoot—while showing how the Howling Moon have abused and repurposed it.
Map Notes
- Corridor runs straight and slightly down; 12 ft wide, 15 ft high, 30-ft squares of red tile.
- 2A breach is on the right, 10 ft short of the ruined gate.
- Room 4 opens farther ahead on the left (heavy beam door ajar), beyond the fallen portcullis.
Use this room to set tone: ancient precision, crude occupation, and the promise of a running fight if the party loses the sound war.
Parent Location
1. Skull’s Throat 'Red-Tiled Approach' by 3orcs
Wandering in the Throat
(d6, each 10 minutes or on noise)
Roll once every 10 minutes or upon loud noise.
- Orc pair carrying a bucket of rot-spirits (disadvantage on first Perception).
- Orc runner with message tablets hustling from 4 → 2A. If intercepted, tablets list “gate broken / replace spikes.”
- Giant rats (2d4) scavenging among the bars; flee from open flame.
- Ogre from 4 shuffles out to urinate; Perception 8 while distracted.
- Drunk quarrel in 2A peaks—one orc flung into the corridor (prone).
- Silence pulse. A breath of dead quiet rolls the hall for 1 round; any sound the PCs make seems too loud (Stealth checks at disadvantage that round).
Noise & response between rooms
- Trigger: combat, raised voices, metal on bars, tile clack clack.
- Round 1–2: Room 2A (Guard-Den) checks to investigate (d6: 3–6) with 2 orcs.
- Round 3–4: Room 4 (Ogre’s Bay) stirs (d6: 4–6 ogre bellows and advances with 2 nearest orcs next round.
- Horn effect: If any horn is blown (2A or 4), adjacent rooms gain +1 on their response roll and 1d4 orcs arrive 2 rounds later.
Quiet play tip: a steady noise ward (murmured chant, rattle-string) doesn’t draw checks by itself—sudden clatters do.
If outside orcs escaped into 2A
- They tip a table into the breach and scatter tile-shards (improvised caltrops: first rusher DEX save DC 12 or 1 piercing & –10 ft speed for 1 minute).
- One flees to Room 4 to wake the ogre; all orcs in 2A gain advantage on the first Perception/Initiative roll.
- They fight a fall-back through the breach, trying to shove PCs onto the twisted bars so the ogre can smash from behind.
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